kabarsula Qantas to launch first non-stop Australia–Cape Town flights bandar SLOT INDONESIA

Qantas will fly Sydney to Cape Town non-stop from October 2027, the first direct service between Australia and South Africa’s Mother City, with tickets on sale from today.

QF89 will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with the inaugural flight departing on 19 October 2027. The service will run through Cape Town’s summer until 24 March 2028.

The flight departs Sydney at 9:15am and arrives in Cape Town at 2:40pm, with a flight time of about 14 hours and 25 minutes. Economy return fares start from AU$2,470.

The route will add almost 30,000 seats between Australia and South Africa, alongside Qantas’ existing Perth and Sydney services to Johannesburg. It is made possible by new 787-9 Dreamliners arriving in late 2027 as part of the airline’s largest fleet renewal.

Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said Cape Town was a “bucket-list city” and that demand was strong, with tens of thousands of customers a year already connecting to it from Johannesburg through partner Airlink.

“The arrival of our new 787s as part of our historic fleet renewal gives us the flexibility to grow our international network in places we know our customers want to travel, while also creating new opportunities for our people,” he said.

The launch comes 75 years after Qantas began scheduled passenger flights to South Africa. The 1952 “Wallaby Route” to Johannesburg took 66 hours via Perth, the Cocos Islands and Mauritius.

More than 120,000 Australians visited South Africa in 2025. In June this year, Australia overtook Germany to become South Africa’s third-largest overseas source market, with arrivals up 19 per cent year on year. Almost 225,000 South African-born people live in Australia, about a quarter of them in NSW.

Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said the route was a “fantastic outcome” for the tourism industry, offering more options for Australian travellers and exporters and for international visitors.

Wesgro CEO Wrenelle Stander said direct air access was “one of the most important drivers of tourism growth” and that Australia was an important and growing market for the Western Cape. She said the route would support job creation and help grow the region’s visitor economy.